Mailpiece creation systems such as mailpiece inserters are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies, and utility companies to periodically produce a large volume of mailpieces, e.g., monthly billing or shareholders income/dividend statements. In many respects, mailpiece inserters are analogous to automated assembly equipment inasmuch as sheets, inserts and envelopes are conveyed along a feed path and assembled in or at various modules of the mailpiece inserter. That is, the various modules work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mailpiece is produced.
A mailpiece inserter includes a variety of apparatus/modules for conveying and processing a substrate/sheet material along the feed path. Commonly mailpiece inserters include apparatus/modules for (i) feeding and singulating printed content material in a “feeder module”, (ii) accumulating the content material to form a multi-sheet collation in an “accumulator”, (iii) folding the content material to produce a variety of fold configurations such as a C-fold, Z-fold, bi-fold and gate fold, in a “folder”, (iv) feeding mailpiece inserts such as coupons, brochures, and pamphlets, in combination with the content material, in a “chassis module” (v) inserting the folded/unfolded and/or nested content material into an envelope in an “envelope inserter”, (vi) sealing the filled envelope in “sealing module” (vii) printing recipient/return addresses and/or postage indicia on the face of the mailpiece envelope at a “print station” and (viii) controlling the flow and speed of the content material at various locations along the feed path of the mailpiece inserter by a series of “buffer stations”. In addition to these commonly employed apparatus/modules, mailpiece inserter may also include other modules for (i) binding/stitching an edge of sheet material to form a bound collation, i.e., via a stitcher/stapler module, and (ii) reversing the orientation of the substrate/sheet material, via a “sheet inverter” to print information on an opposite side of the sheet/content material.
With respect to the printing station, it is common to register a face surface of each mailpiece with a registration plate such that an array of print heads may print information such as destination and return addresses on the face of each mailpiece. More specifically, the registration plate includes an aperture for accepting a stepped array of print head nozzles. The thickness of the registration plate provides a threshold “stand-off” dimension from the face surface of each mailpiece to each of the print head nozzles such that ink droplets may be precisely deposited.
Furthermore, the array of print heads and registration plate are typically disposed over, and/or in opposed relation to, an underlying conveyance system such as one or more conveyor belts. Mailpieces are conveyed along the belt(s), move under the registration plate and passed by the print head nozzles as ink is deposited. To ensure that mailpieces slide smoothly beneath the registration plate, i.e., without jamming, the spacing between the underlying conveyance system, e.g., the conveyance belt (s), and the registration plate must be closely controlled. That is, with each mail run/print job performed by the print module, the necessary clearance gap must be established based upon the anticipated thickness of mailpieces being processed. Alternatively, the underlying conveyance system/belt may be compliant to allow envelopes of variable thickness dimension move under the registration plate while the deck the of conveyance system/belt is displaced by the geometric variation in envelope thickness.
Furthermore, as a mailpiece passes the registration plate, particulate matter, which may have collected on an envelope during pre-processing, can be disturbed and become airborne due to engagement of the envelope with the registration plate. Additionally, the frictional engagement with the registration plate may produce additional dust and debris. As more particulate matter is disturbed/removed/produced, the print station must perform additional purge cycles to clear the print head nozzles of dust and debris. As a result, the mailpiece inserter is halted, or momentarily/temporarily discontinued, to allow the purge cycle to clear/clean the print head nozzles. While such purge cycles must be tolerated to permit smooth operation of the print station, the down time is unproductive and costly to the operator. Furthermore, inasmuch as the ink used to purge the print head nozzles is costly, it is desirable to minimize the number of purge cycles that a print station performs to minimize the cost of the ink consumed.
A need, therefore, exists for a print station which mitigates the removal/production of particulate matter to optimize print station/inserter efficiency. Such increased efficiency may be achieved by reducing the number purge cycles necessary to clear/clean the print head nozzles and the cost associated with lost productivity and ink consumption.